Who Are You?

Walter Troup

Be Different • Sermon • Submitted a year ago • Presented a year ago

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(Do “different” comparisons. Tall, short, white, black, girl, boy, young. old)

It’s ok to be different. In fact, not only does God make us different, he calls us to be different. And that is what we are going to see this morning, how we should live different as believers in Jesus Christ. And most importantly, who are you? So as we open God’s Word this morning, let’s stand and say what we believe.

The Bible is the Word of God. The Truth of the Bible will change my life. Lord open my heart, and awaken my mind, and give me grace to respond. Change me, for your glory and my joy, amen.

This morning and for the next four weeks we are going to look into God’s Word and see how we are called to be different. Not because we are taller, shorter, light or dark, or young or old, but our differences comes because of who we are in Christ. This morning, if you have given your life to the Lord, you are a Christina, a believer, and have been saved by the grace of God, God expects YOU TO BE DIFFERENT. You Should be different. From the moment, by faith you believed in Jesus, and confessed with your mouth that he is Lord, you became a different person. Did you eternity change, yes. Do you now have the hope of heaven in the presence of the Lord when you die? Yes. But there is more. Before that time comes, as you live your life here in Opi, or wherever you go in your life….you are called to be different. And that difference should be seen in your life.

Peter was one of Jesus’ disciples. You know Peter. He was a fisherman when Jesus called him to follow him. For over three years, Peter was right there by Jesus’ side. He witnessed Jesus’ miracles, his teachings, and when Jesus asked who am I? What did Peter say? In Matthew 16, he said: “YOU ARE THE CHRIST, THE SON OF THE LIVING GOD.”

Peter wasn’t perfect. He didn’t always do the right thing. Remember Peter denied Jesus three times. He said “I don’t even know who this man is!”

If you think back to time that Peter denied Christ, he was only thinking about himself. He was denying because he was fearing other people and what they were thinking of him or what they would do to him because he knew Jesus and was one on his disciples. He was just trying to be part of the crowd, just part of the people, part of the crowd.

But as a Christian, that is not who we should be. Are you hearing me? As a believer in Jesus, we are not to be like everyone else. We not not to be like the world one else. We should not act like the world. We should not think like the world. We should be different.

After Peter denied Jesus three times, Jesus was crucified, and then the greatest thing happened that has ever happened in history… Jesus rose from the grave. And when Jesus rose from the grave, he spent 40 days on earth before he went into heaven, and one of things he did before he went to heaven, was that he sat down and had a morning meal with Peter beside the water. Jesus forgave Peter, and told him to “feed my sheep.” And that is what Peter did for the rest of his life. He set his heart and mind on being different. He was bold is his belief, bold in speech, and bold in his faith.

Let’s learn how we can be different here in Opi. Open your Bibles to 1 Peter Chapter 2.

The book of 1 Peter is a letter written to believers, those who are saved that are in another country from where Peter was. And because they are not where he was, he wanted to remind them of who they were in Christ. He wanted to encourage them how they should live and think because of their salvation through Jesus Christ.

Think about it this way. Our graduates, before they left here were coming to Bible Studies, coming to church every week. They were constantly hearing the Word of God. It was feeding their soul all the time. But now, they have gone out. And some of them, don’t go to church, don’t read their Bible, don’t go to a bible study. So when they are not looking to the Word of God and not hearing the preaching of the Word, they can forget who they are in Christ, and what God wants for them. So Mom and I, reach out to them, encourage them to make sure they find a church, make sure they are reading the Bible.

And this is what Peter is doing with this letter. He is reminding them of who they are in Christ, and how their lives should be seen where they are.

In 1 Peter 1 , Peter reminds them of the hope they have through the resurrection and belief in Jesus and he tells them that they should live holy lives because the God who saved them was holy. Then in the beginning of Chapter 2, Peter begins to compare those who are believers to those who are not. He gives us a picture of a stone… a cornerstone. And those who are his, beleivers, will never be disgraced. But those who reject him, will fall. Not fall down to the ground, but fall away from him and never entering into heaven.

But look what he says to the believers…. (verse 9)

1 Peter 2:9–12 NLT

9 But you are not like that, for you are a chosen people. You are royal priests, a holy nation, God’s very own possession. As a result, you can show others the goodness of God, for he called you out of the darkness into his wonderful light. 10 “Once you had no identity as a people; now you are God’s people. Once you received no mercy; now you have received God’s mercy.” 11 Dear friends, I warn you as “temporary residents and foreigners” to keep away from worldly desires that wage war against your very souls. 12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world.

This reminder and instruction from Peter should help us understand who we are, how we should be, and the difference we can make if we chose to be different.